Not Like Any Other Girl
by minsdins
Summary: A girl leaves her home, her friends and her school to move to Castle Rock and arouses everyone's curiousity at her new school, can she sink or swim?
1. Chapter 1

Not like any other girl

CHAPTER 1- Julia's POV

Ok so, I'm not a complete tomboy, but I'm not exactly a girly-girl either. I'm quiet and boys don't fall in love with me, I love my life and my friends, but I just found out that I'm moving to a different country for my dad's new job. I'm leaving all of my friends behind, the only people who keep me sane, even if they aren't; well someone has to be responsible. I looked in the mirror, my blue eyes stared back out at me, my hair was a dark blonde colour with lighter blonde bits in it, just an average thirteen year old. I sighed, and then a voice shouted to me.

"Julia, are you packed?" my mum's voice ran through the house.

"Yeah, just a sec," I sighed and picked up a picture frame.

I peered at the picture, me and my friends, they were grinning and looking like idiots, it was from when we were on a school trip, and I smiled happily at the photo and placed it on top of my trunk.

I wasn't leaving until tomorrow so I called everyone and asked them to meet up at the park in half an hour. When I got there, everyone was sitting on the rocks chatting idly. It was a half-term Thursday and I was moving tomorrow.

"Hey guys," I called.

"Julia," my best friend ran up to me and gave me a hug.

"Hey Steven," I whispered.

My eyes welled up a little bit, out of everyone, Steven was the person I was going to miss the most, without him I wouldn't know what fun was if it smacked me in the face. I clung on to him, I'd only known him for approximately two years but I knew almost everything about him, I wasn't as open as Steven, Steven was almost the opposite of me; he was fun, loud and sometimes annoying, I was quiet and quite boring, Steven would randomly start talking to someone, whilst I had to wait until they spoke to me, he was rude sometimes and just blurted things out, I was usually polite and thought about what I was going to say before I said it, but when I was in a bad mood I could be blunt.

"I'm going to miss you," I whispered in his ear.

"Aww," Steven said pulling me by my arm to the others.

"So where are you moving again?" Katie asked.

"Can't remember, it's apparently small and pretty," I made rabbit ears with my fingers; this was our sign when we were being sarcastic.

"Hey, you'll probably like it," Penni said to me.

"Depends on if I can make friends or not," I replied.

"You will…" Jack took a dramatic pause. "Eventually."

I grinned, and pushed him gently. "That's not fair, I'm nervous enough."

"Well how did you make friends with us?" Steven asked.

"I met you through Stacey," I said, I'd known Stacey since I was little. "And most of you are… were… in my form."

"And lessons," Charlie injected helpfully.

"Yeah," I grinned. "Anyone know what time it is?"

"Three o'clock," Judy said.

"Ok, anyone want to go on the zip wire?" I asked.

"I'm first!" a ton of them shouted at once.

We all followed Jade, who had run and already claimed the zip wire. I tried to laugh and be normal, but there was something blocking me, I sat down by the lake instead just starring out onto the water.

"Are you ok, Julia?" A voice asked from behind me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I grinned and spun around and saw Steven behind me.

"You seem a bit…" he looked thoughtful. "Sad."

"Well, I don't want to leave, that's all," I said grinning, but I had let my guard down and a tear had escaped my clutches.

I wiped it away; I don't think he saw it.

"I'm really going to miss you," I said hugging him.

"I'll miss you too, you'll come and visit right?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "I don't think I'm going to come back here."

"Well, I can visit you then," he said.

I nodded and grinned at him.

"It's four o'clock," Steven sighed.

I grinned. "Race you to the zip wire?" I asked.

"Sure," Steven said and stood up.

He shouted. "GO!" and pushed me back and ran.

"CHEAT!" I screamed and ran after him laughing.

I was only just behind him, I was a faster runner but not that much, I only just lost.

"I win," Steven taunted.

"Cheater," I muttered.

Steven laughed and jumped on the zip wire, he flew off when it hit the other side. Everyone was laughing at him. A few younger kids had stopped and laughed as well.

Steven ran back with his face beetroot.

"Are… You… Ok?" I asked between giggles.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Steven looking incredibly embarrassed.

"Steven, you idiot," people jeered through their laughing.

"Shut up!" Steven said while mock-crying.

After about five minutes everyone had stopped laughing and Steven went to go back on the zip wire.

"Hey mummy!" A kid squealed. "The funny boy is going back on."

This got everyone laughing again.

After that I started thinking about how much I was going to miss them and why I had to move now, I just made all of my friends and now I was leaving them.

"Well, I have to go, its five o'clock," Judy said.

She came up to hug me. "See you," I said.

"Yeah bye," she pulled back and walked away.

"Crap what time did she say?" Katie asked.

"Five," I replied.

"Crap, crap, crap," she muttered. "Me and Bex have to go."

They hugged me and ran off. I sighed and started to throw rocks into the water.

"Hey, cheer up," Steven said.

I looked at him and smiled but my vision went foggy and I started crying, not like the crying when you get hurt physically but the crying when you get hurt emotionally, the type of crying that rips your heart out. Steven put his arms around me and cried for a couple more moments.

"I'm sorry," I muttered.

"It's ok," Steven said. "I'm really going to miss you."

"I think I'll miss you more then anyone else," I said smiling.

He flashed me his cheesy grin.

"I'd better be going home," I said.

He linked arms with me and walked until we came to his street.

"Do you really have to go tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yeah," I sighed.

He pulled me into a hug. "Come back and visit sometime ok?"

"Ok," I said and walked home.

When I got home I sat down in front of the TV, when my mum called me for dinner, I wasn't hungry but I forced myself to eat it and watched TV again. At nine o'clock I decided to go to bed, but I couldn't sleep and I had to be up at five so I'm at the airport for half six.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

I was on the plane bored, I'd finished my book when the intercom came over and told us they were about to land, I sighed and put on the seatbelt.

"We'll be there soon," mum said.

"Ok," I said sleepily.

We got to the car and then the next thing I know a car is coming straight for us.

"SHIT!" my dad grumbled and pulled off the road.

A load of boys went past in the car, they were obviously older then me and well built up.

I rolled my eyes and then saw a sign saying Castle Rock.

"So are we there yet?" I asked.

"Almost," my mum said.

"Ok," I sighed and then a few minutes later the car stopped in front of a pretty house.

I stepped out into the heat and got my suitcase out of the car. I looked around the house; we had to buy furniture in advance because it was less awkward. I stared around at the furniture, simple but nice. I smiled, I loved the house already, but whether I loved the town was a different matter.

I spent the weekend getting settled in and unpacking, but when Monday came I was a nervous wreck. Doing this once for high school was bad enough, but twice… I didn't know what I was going to do.

I threw on some jeans and a white vest on then I pulled my black cardie on over it. I sighed, I was never going to be pretty, but I could try. I put on some mascara and eyeliner and walked out of the house, too nervous to eat anything.

When I got to school, I went to the office which directed me to the head teacher's room and I knocked quietly.

"Come in," a booming voice called.

"Umm, hello, I'm Julia, the new girl," I said.

"Ahh, yes I remember," he said rooting through some papers.

He handed me my time-table and a map and then he stood up.

"I will escort you to your first lesson," he said.

I nodded. "Thanks," I said.

"So, how was England?" he asked.

"Good, I liked it over there," I said. "Is it nice over here?"

"Yes, there are a few people and places to stay away from, but it's like that everywhere," he smiled.

I smiled back. "Yeah, lot's of stuff like that in England."

"Where about in England are you from?" he asked.

"Liverpool," I said.

He stopped outside a door and opened it for me and followed me in.

"This is our new student make sure she's welcomed," he looked at the class, he handed me a piece of paper "Get every teacher to sign this."

I dared to look up and every set of eyes were on me. I blushed and looked down again. The teacher signed the piece of paper and gave it back to me.

"You can go and take a seat by…" she looked at a piece of paper. "Sorry honey, it's the only seat left, I'm afraid you're going to have to sit by Chris, unless someone else swaps…"

"No, no, it's ok," I frowned at her.

"Ok," she said.

There were a few empty places and she hadn't told me which seat was Chris'.

"Uhh, who's Chris?" I asked.

"At the back, on the left," she said.

I nodded and walked to the seat, my face was burning, I didn't even look at the boy I was sitting next to.

A girl turned around to face me.

"I feel sorry for you," she replied.

"Why?" I asked.

She shook her head and turned back to face the front.

"Because you're sitting next to me," the boy called Chris said.

I thought he was joking. "I don't get it," I said.

"You obviously haven't been here very long," Chris muttered scribbling something the teacher had said on a piece of paper.

I was confused, but I shrugged it off.

"Hey. What lesson are you in next?" he asked me.

"English," I replied.

"What room?" he sighed.

"Oh, E5," I said.

"Ok, I'm in that room too, if you want, I can walk you," he sighed. "I don't know why I'm offering I doubt you'll want me to take you."

"I need someone to take me," I smiled.

He smiled back. "Ok," he whispered.

"CHRISTOPHER!" came a sharp shout.

Chris looked at her. "Yes miss?" he asked innocently.

"Stop talking!" she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ok," he said and she went back to teaching the lesson.

Ten minutes later the bell rang and I gathered everything together, Chris waited patiently.

I walked out with him. He led the way and I followed, we weren't walking very fast.

"So where are you from?" he asked me.

"England," I replied.

"England? That's a long way away," he commented.

"I know," I sighed.

"Got to be hard leaving everything," he said.

"Like my friends," I sighed. "And my life."

"Did you have tons of friends?" he asked.

"Not tons, I had about fourteen people I hung around with all the time, I got along with most people though," I replied. "This school's tiny compared to my old school."

"Yeah, it's a small town," he said.

"Yeah," I sighed. "Small."

"Yeah," he replied and walked into a room.

It was marked clearly with E5. I followed him and walked up to the teacher and he signed the paper and told me to sit a boy called Teddy, he pointed toward a boy with glasses.

I sat down, he was turned around, he seemed to be a bit crazy, I hoped he wouldn't start talking to me. The girl from my last lesson was sitting in front of me again she turned around.

"I definitely feel sorry for you, sitting next to a Chambers in Science and Duchamp in English," she said.

"I don't get what you mean, what's wrong with them?" I asked confused.

"When did you get here?" she asked.

"Friday," I replied.

"Where did you come from?" she asked.

"England," I replied.

"Explains why you're so pale," she muttered. "Best to stay away from them."

She turned around.

"I can hear everything you're saying, you know," Teddy said.

The girl ignored him.

He turned to face me. "So English hey?"

"Yeah," I said uneasily.

"Why the hell did you move all the way over here?" he asked.

"My dad got a new job," I replied.

"Where?" he asked.

"I dunno, I didn't listen, I didn't want to come to this stupid town," I muttered.

"It can't be that bad," he said.

"I guess not," I sighed and wrote down the notes the teacher was writing on the board.

"Right get into fives or sixes," he ordered.

I waited until everyone was in their groups; they all had five except one group, Chris' and Teddy's only had four so I walked over.

"Umm, can I go with you guys?" I asked feeling awkward.

"Sure," Teddy said pulling me down on the chair next to him, I landed hard but I didn't say anything.

Chris grinned at me, I smiled back.

"Right, think of a story and write it down, you're going to act it out in two weeks," the teacher said and suddenly I felt nerves bubbling over, I wasn't good at stuff like that.

"You any good at writing?" a voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Huh?" I asked looking at the boy who had asked me the question.

"Are you any good at writing?" he asked again.

"No," I said.

"Oh," he said pulling a face.

"Sorry Gordie, you write it, your stories are really good," a chubby boy said.

"Yeah Gordie, you wet-end," Teddy said laughing.

"Shut up Teddy, do you want any help Gord-o?" Chris asked the boy.

"It's alright," the boy called Gordie said.

Chris grinned at him, Gordie smiled back slightly.

I stared blankly at a piece of paper in front of me. Then someone prodded me; I jumped violently.

"Yeah?" I asked looking at Teddy.

"Just checking you were still alive," Teddy smirked.

"Aww, how sweet," I said sarcastically.

"Do I get a kiss?" he asked startling me.

"What?" I asked taken shocked.

He puckered his lips at me.

"That is just sick," I muttered.

Teddy laughed. "I bet you haven't kissed a boy before," he taunted.

I blushed because one he was right and two it was none of his business.

"Does it matter?" I asked.

"Well you can have your first kiss right here with me," he said leaning forward.

"I'd rather lick someone's toes, thanks for offering though," I smiled.

"You want me," Teddy chuckled.

"Yeah that's it," I replied rolling my eyes.

"Teddy shut up!" Chris snapped.

"Fine," Teddy said moodily.

"Sorry, he's not used to girls taking a second glance at him," Chris grinned.

"Hey I find that offensive," Teddy interrupted, he was going to carry on talking but a dark look from Chris made him shut up.

I drifted off into a day dream but was interrupted by a voice.

"Where you from?" it asked.

"What?" I asked.

"England," Teddy said. "She's from England."

"You don't sound English," the chubby kid said.

"Oh," I said.

"Are you ok?" Chris' voice said.

"Yeah I'm fine thanks, you?" I said.

A secretive look passed between Chris and Gordie but I pretended not to notice it.

"I'm ok," Chris said.

"Oh, that's good," I said.

I smiled slightly and then noticed something on the floor, I picked it up, it was an invitation. I turned it over and noticed it was familiar, it read:

'We think you've got talent!!!

Julia + friend

Is invited to CREATIVE WRITING CLUB

Wednesday 1pm onwards'

I must have left it in my bag.

I felt someone really close to my shoulder; I turned to see Teddy reading it so I quickly stuffed it into my bag and blushed.

"I thought you said you couldn't write," he stated.

"I can't they just gave me that," I muttered.

"Why?" he asked.

"I dunno," I said.

"Teddy, leave her alone," Gordie said.

"What!" Teddy exclaimed.

"You're doing your best to flirt and she's not getting it," Gordie said.

I blushed deeply as Teddy denied it and thankfully the bell rang for break, I sighed and stuffed everything into my bag.

"Hey what lesson are you in now?" Chris asked.

"Art," I said. "In A1."

"Cool, I'm there too, you can hang out with us if you want," he offered.

I smiled. "Thanks."

"Hey no problem," Chris said flashing me a grin.

I smiled back at him.

I hadn't noticed before but Chris was quite good-looking, he had blue eyes and slightly tanned skin, he had a warm smile and quite muscular arms.

Gordie was so like a stick, he had big, innocent brown eyes and pale skin, he was cute in a little boy kind of way.

Vern was chubby but also cute in a weird kind of way.

Teddy was weird looking, almost had an old man appearance with his hearing-aid and thick glasses, but if you ignored them he was sort of good-looking too.

When we got there they were talking about the girls that they had a crush on.

"Teddy who do you like?" Gordie asked him.

"None, they're all skanky," Teddy said.

"Oh, thanks," I said.

Teddy grinned.

"Who do you like Chris?" Vern asked.

"No-one really," Chris said.

"Ooh, you usually just say no, who is she?" Teddy said.

"Well I don't know her very well," Chris replied.

"Well that narrows it down by none," Teddy said sarcastically.

"You don't know any girls?" I asked shocked.

"No," Chris said. "Not properly."

"Oh," I said.

The bell rang after ten more minutes of them asking each other silly questions like that, I didn't really listen.

"Come on, art now," Chris said.

"Ok," I said standing up from my slouched position on the wall.

Chris was walking quite close to me, I could feel the heat radiating off his body. I shivered slightly.

"Are you cold?" Chris asked me amazed.

"A little," I replied. "I have weather issues."

"Oh ok," he replied.

We reached an open door and walked in; I walked up to the teacher's desk and gave her the paper to sign.

She told me to take a seat wherever I wanted to so I looked for an empty place; there was one beside Chris so I sat there. He grinned at me as I sat down so I smiled back.

The teacher was quite eccentric, her rollers were still in her hair and she was bright pink and green clothes, I quite enjoyed that lesson because she was really nice and told us to draw whatever we wanted.

After the lesson I had Maths, so did Chris so he walked with me there. I sighed as the teacher made me introduce myself, after I'd told them my name and were I was from and then the teacher instructed me to sit in between Gordie and Chris- apparently to separate them.

I sat down quietly and the teacher wrote some sums up on the board, they were fairly simple algebra questions.

The first one was '2×=10, what is ×?' I finished first and the teacher noticed and came over to check them, I got all of them right, I was quite happy about that. Chris was really struggling, I tried to explain it but I struggled to do that, for the ones were they had numbers left over I told him that you put it into fractions but he got even more confused.

"Hey Chris, who is the girl you were talking about at break?" I asked.

"Shh," Chris said blushing, I giggled at his face.

"Why won't you tell me?" I asked stubbornly

"Because I don't want anyone to know," Chris muttered.

"Ok, don't tell me then," I muttered.

"I won't, don't worry," Chris laughed.

"Fine," I said.

"Aww, come on, I'll tell you sometime," Chris said.

"Why not now?" I asked.

"Because I'm not sure whether she likes me back yet," Chris said.

"You never know," I muttered. "I wouldn't tell her, I don't know anyone's names."

"Just being careful," he said.

"Whatever," I muttered.

"Hey what did you get for number fourteen?" Gordie asked.

"Twelve," I answered.

"Kay thanks," he replied.

"Ok, what does she look like?" I asked Chris.

"Blue eyes," he said.

"And?" I asked.

"Blonde hair," Chris answered.

"Ok, I'll keep my eye out," I said.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Maths was over so we headed to lunch. The cafeteria was buzzing I sat down between Chris and Teddy.

"Hey," Teddy said putting his arm around my shoulders.

"Hiya," I said in a tired voice.

"How's your first day been?" he asked.

"Boring," I replied.

"School is," Teddy sighed.

"My old school wasn't that bad, it was quite fun," I replied.

"School and fun, never thought I'd hear those too spoken in the same sentence," Chris said.

"Well, it was in lunch and break, some lessons were fun when we did group work," I said.

"Group work is crap," Teddy said.

"I don't know why you're saying that, it's not like you did any work," I said.

"I know yeah," Gordie said.

I took my watch out of my pocket and glanced at it, it was quarter past one, we had fifteen more minutes to go until we needed to be in lessons.

"So where about do you guys live?" I asked them.

"Castle Rock, Oregon," Teddy said.

"Fine whatever," I muttered.

The last lesson was History, I had that with all four of them so we walked slowly to the room, the door was open and we were the first people there, the room was long and colourful, there were posters all over the walls. I took the piece of paper over to the teacher to sign, the boys all sat down at different sides of the room from each other which meant that there was a seating plan in here. The teacher glanced at a sheet of paper with lots of squares and names on. She told me to sit next to Chris because it was the only spare seat.

"Ok," I said and walked over to the back. "Hello again."

"Hi, worked it out yet?" he asked.

I pulled a face. "Not yet, you'll tell me though if I don't work it out though, won't you?" I asked.

"Well it depends…" Chris mused.

"Please?" I asked.

"Fine if you haven't worked it out in two weeks then I'll tell you," Chris sighed.

"Promise?" I asked.

"Promise," he said.

"Good," I smiled.

He grinned back and then everyone else piled into the room. There was a chorus of talking while everyone sat down at their desks, everyone quietened down once the teacher had told them too.

"Chris Chambers has a crush!" the boy sitting next to Vern shouted suddenly.

"Aww, Chris who is she?" the teacher asked.

"No-one," Chris said.

"C'mon tell us," she said.

"I don't have a crush on anyone," Chris said. "It's just a rumour."

"LIAR! You told that you had a crush on a girl you didn't know very well," Teddy chirped up.

"Is it someone in this room?" the teacher asked.

"Maybe," Chris said blushing.

I began to search the room for a girl with blonde hair, there were two.

"Come on Chris, you've never had a crush on a girl before, tell us who she is," the teacher insisted.

"No, can we just learn some history?" Chris said and everybody groaned.

The teacher sighed. "Fine you can tell me after the lesson."

"Yes miss," Chris said.

The teacher started the lesson and told us to make notes. It passed relatively quickly and when the lesson ended Gordie, Teddy, Vern and I all waited outside while Chris talked to my new History teacher, when he finally emerged from the classroom he was literally beetroot.

"God Chris, how red can you get?" I asked shocked at his colour.

"I can't help it, that was very embarrassing getting it forced out of me like that," Chris said.

I walked home with them they all went their different ways and it ended up me walking with Chris. We made small talk and after about five minutes we came to my house.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow," I said.

"Yeah, see you," Chris said.

I smiled. "Ok, bye," and I walked up the short path that led to my house.

I looked at Chris who was walking away. I opened the door and let myself in.

"I'm home," I called.

"Ok hun," my mum called.

I sat down and watched TV; it was beginning to go dark when my mum came into the room.

"Would you nip out and get some milk?" she asked with her purse in her hands.

"Yeah sure," I replied getting up.

She handed me the money and I went to the shop, the shopkeeper kept me there for a while asking me questions when eventually I said that I'd have to get home.

When I stepped outside it was almost dark and I began to walk home when a car pulled up beside me and a few late-teenager boys got out the car.

"Looks like we've got some new girl," one of them snickered slyly.

I didn't say anything, I just stood there and an older guy with blonde hair came closer and I pressed up to the wall.

"She's not a whore," he said. "Don't get many of those around here."

"In case you've noticed, I am actually here," I said, a little bit angry.

"Ooh, and has a temperament," he touched my face.

I didn't do anything, I just glared at him. Then he pinned me to the wall.

"Get off," I instructed.

"No-one tells me what to do," he said with his cold eyes staring into mine.

I bought my knee up and he doubled over, I ran away from him, the rest of the older guys were stunned at first and then they began to run after me. I pushed a bin in front of them and they clambered over it and then I turned the corner which had my house right there and ran inside. They didn't see me go in but I heard them shouting and cursing outside.

I walked into the kitchen.

"Sorry, the shopkeeper kept me talking," I said rolling my eyes.

My mum laughed. "Its ok honey," she said and made a pot of tea.

I went to bed and fell asleep right away.


End file.
